THE COST OF MY KIDS' "FREE AND APPROPRIATE EDUCATION"

Did you know that it is a federal law that all children in the United States are to receive a "free and appropriate education"?

High school registration fees (times 2) $40 each
Middle school registration fees $30
First grade supplies $31
Fifth grade school supplies $47
Seventh grade supplies $50
Tenth grade supplies $80, $200 if you count the required calculator, I think I will
Eleventh grade supplies $67, $187 if you count the required calculator, I think I will

That totals $625.

I haven't even gotten into yearbooks ($60, $60, $40), new school shoes (what sadist started that as a tradition? - $40, $30, $35, $35, $17, and $12 - yes, we could have bought cheaper but in my experience they wear out MUCH faster, too and I think I did a smashing good job getting shoes at the those prices), school lunches (high school $3.75, middle school $2.75, and elementary $2.00), sweats for the various organizations and clubs, and we won't even TOUCH the school clothes or the shoes Rachel requires to run. Oh, and Sari started cross country this year too.

No wonder I feel like this:

BEST LINE heard at Education Week

In one class, the topic was Rock Solid Families, the presenter did a small tirade on an unnamed book that had taken his ward by storm. He was shocked that his Relief Society and Young Women had all been so taken with this book. One of the YW activities was even to go to the store at midnight and buy the book. Everyone in the class called out, "TWILIGHT!" He said, "I'm not saying any names!"

He went on to say that if we don't let our kids watch R-rated movies, and we don't watch R-rated movies, why do we read R-rated books, i.e., explicit books? He said that he hadn't read them but his wife read him passages from the four books.

He moved on quickly. I sensed that there were some Barbies in the front rows with their "I heart Edward Cullen" shirts on that were giving him the Voltari stare and thinking of eating him for brunch.

After the class, as we were exiting, I overheard this conversation snippet:

Lady 1 - "I know, I felt like I should defend her, too."

Lady 2 - "I mean, really, the books aren't explicit. They are erotic but they aren't explicit."

EDUCATION WEEK

HE SAID: (taken from the pictures and texts sent to Tif's phone from Larry.)
Joseph was so loud in Sacrament Meeting I had to take him out. Eventually, I had to take him home.

Family Home Evening and scriptures.

Matthew eating icecream.

Fed the kids dinner.

Joseph's first soccer practice.

Matthew starts soccer in two weeks.

Rainy, cold, and foggy this week in Spokane.

Date night with Dad.

Took Rachel a VBCF (vanilla bean creme frappacino) at her work for all her hard work this week.

SHE SAID:
I arrived in SLC just in time to make it to Julie's reception. I showed up weary and travel worn but people were nice to me anyway. It was fun to see everyone! This is Dave and Brooke. They come up again in a little while, but this is them at Julie and Tyson's reception.

After spending a restful Sabbath at Teilani's house then dinner at my parents, mom and dad took me to the dorms in Provo. It sort of felt like when they took me to Ricks, except I wasn't crying or having panic attacks. My time with Teilani and her family was too short. The library was a great calling for Teilani to have and we spent the time catching up. Since it had been over night since we last talked. Thanks for giving up your room, Heidyn! This is my sister's beautiful family. The picture was taken by Missy.

This is what my room looked like: (My bed is the one that is properly made.)

Is there really not a shower curtain five inches wider to keep the water INSIDE the shower?

On Monday, Jan, Stephanie I went shopping. On half a croissant and a bottle of water we went to: Distribution, Deseret Book, Seagull Book and Tape, different Deseret Book, Tie One On (where we waited 25 minutes for Steph to decide she didn't like any of the ties), Rod Works, Tai Pan, and finally the Quilted Bear where we had lunch at the little cafe in there. I must recommend their teriyaki chicken salad. Absolutely divine (although I was so hungry I may have said that about cardboard). Next we headed off the the Wood Connection, then Trax (it was 105*) and downtown. We picked up Steph's picture at the ZCMI Deseret Book, then went to the Joseph Smith Memorial building and saw the movie there. It was really good the second time, too. When we came out, this is what we saw:

Afterwards we rode Trax back to 7200 South, then to Allison's house in Provo for Jan a blankie, and then to DEL TACO (Steph's favorite place) for dinner (I got fries and a milkshake) at 11:30 p.m.. We drove around looking for a parking spot for 25 minutes and finally parked illegally. Yay us!!!

Tuesday Dave, Brooke, and I went out to lunch at a little Mexican dive that served huge portions. I found out that they are engaged now! Yay! Dave just needs a great way to give her the ring. Get to it, already!

Tuesday night CiCi picked me up and we went to Kye's house with a delicious salad from ... curses. Some cute little place with a train in the front in Springville. We got it to go and Kye assembled it at her house. I must say that Kye is the salad queen. She can make a delicious salad out of almost anything. Give her good ingredients and she is a master! CiCi, incidentally, is the sandwich master. She makes the most delicious sandwiches! I love them! I love these girls! They reappear later in the post, with pictures.

Wednesday night the girls went to get Glitter Toes in Lehi. It was fun. Here we are. I am in the middle.

And these are my Edward Cullen toes. I call them that because they sparkle in the sun, like vampires do.

On Wednesday night I went to dinner with Elizabeth and Kim!!! It was so fun to meet them and in a weird way, felt like I had always known them. We all wished Wendi was there because she is who brought us all together. We went to Cracker Barrell for dinner and it was yummy! Elizabeth insisted that I try her fried okra and it was really yummy, to my absolute surprise. We were there for hours while we talked and laughed and talked and laughed.

After laughing our eyeballs out, we drove back to the dorms. I tried and tried to get my keycard to open the door the door and it wouldn't. It was late and I didn't want to wake my roommates again. This is me reenacting the inability to open the door. We were laughing so hard at this point that I could barely put two words together.

Finally Elizabeth had the genius idea that we were at the wrong dorm? Yes! we were! I was in the David John hall, not Thomas Taylor. Although I am sure he was perfectly nice, it wasn't the right fit. We laughed some more. Hard to believe. I had sore ribs the next day from laughing so much.

This is me reenacting our "OH" moment.
This is what the right sign looks like:

This is Elizabeth, me, and Kim. Somehow I got my icecream all over my shirt, which just made us laugh more. Ick. We went into the dorm and found someone to take the picture. I had a great time, ladies! Thank you so much!

Thursday for lunch my dear, and longest-still-in-constant-contact friend, Sue and I went to the Pizza Factory for lunch. She drove up from Salem and picked me up outside the Wilkinson Center. I had zucchini and yellow squash noodles (which were basically just zucchini and yellow squash sliced super thin) with alfredo sauce and chicken. It was divine. I admire and love Susan. She has been my friend since before I met Larry. In fact, she was the first one to predict that we would get married. She babysat Rachel for me the one day I went back to work and then helped me find a job from home so I could be with my baby. That is just starters and goes back 18 years. I could fill a blog with all that she has done for me. Thanks Sue!

Thursday night I got to see Kye and CiCi again! They picked me up and we headed to the Bombay House in Provo. We tried about four times to get pictures of us with the sign, but it wasn't meant to be. That in and of itself was so funny to me.

I was super brave and tried this: Tikimarsalas chicken. Spelled something like that. "It has more than 23 herbs and spices. Some of them medicinal. You will feel the effects later." Say this in an indian accent to get the full effect. It was sooo delicious! There were no medicinal effects that I noticed. Whew. I was a little nervous after he said that!

For dessert we had persjurinun. Or spelled something like that. It has nuts and honey inside and is very sweet and super delicious! Larry couldn't believe that I was trying all this new food. I am usually kind of a chicken (no pun intended) about that stuff.

Oh, did I say that was for dessert? I meant that was first dessert. We also went to the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and had an apple. It wasn't as good as the one at Tahoe. But it was still plenty tasty.

THEN, we had the real dessert at Cold Stone. I have to take a moment and tell you all how much I adore these two sisters. They are just my closest friends. With them, it is real, it is nitty-gritty. There are no facades. Even if we don't agree, we respect. My life is infinitely better for knowing them. I met Kye first, at Wymount. She taught Relief Society one Sunday I knew we would be the best of friends. She didn't know that and it took me some time to convince her :). She was a very busy girl! I was right, she is a great friend. She was also so instrumental in getting me special services for Daniel. I was so overwhelmed at the time and she just broke it down into steps and taught me the ropes and what to say. Wow. That is just one of many things. CiCi is Kye's older sister and I just sort of moved in on her, too. At first I was terribly intimidated by her amazingness, but soon, we were dear friends, too. I will never forget, when I was huge pregnant with Daniel and on restricted bedrest, how she came over, sat on my kitchen floor and started to clean out my kitchen cupboards. I will just love her forever for that. She and I have a lot of oldest child things and she and I are at very similar stages in our lives, with similar goals, worries, and lots of little boys! These girls are great conversationalists. They are funny and witty and smart and straight to it. They also make me feel like a million bucks with all these compliments. Back at you!

In case you are now thinking that I went to Provo and only partied, I must tell you that I attended at least six classes a day (about my max, the day I tried to do seven, I just sort of mentally couldn't get through it). I learned about rock-solid families, keys to successful families, how to find funding for college, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Christianity in middle east, George Washington, the power of the word, teaching your kids about moral purity, is it inspiration or me?, dinner ideas, homemaker- the ultimate career, and much much more. I almost filled an entire journal with notes.

I was always happy to see Larry's cousin Lynette in a couple of my classes! (Great minds think alike?) I also saw Linda and Camry and Dono (but he didn't see me). I met some distant Sant cousins at lunch and on the last night my roommate from New Jersey told me that her grandmother was a Sant. It's a small, small world. To think I never even heard the name before I met Larry ...

I called home every day. I sent text pictures every day and I was so happy to receive them back! Every day Joseph would start to cry as soon as he started talking to me. Rachel was always positive, but I know things were tough at times. Sari had lots of news. Ben and Daniel were not newsy. Matthew asked repeatedly, "When are you coming home?" On Friday he told me "it ith the worthse day EVER". When I asked him why, he said, "Becauth you aren't home. I NEED you home." Matthew and Joseph broke my heart! Eight days is too long for me. Five would have been better.

When I came home I about jumped out of the car! My family was waiting in the driveway for me! I was so excited to see them! I think they all grew while I was gone!

Joseph and Matthew made me signs! And so did Sari and Daniel!

Ben gave Jan a hug, then Steph, THEN me. Little punk. He told them, "Oh, Sister Jones, I missed you so much ..." and they laughed. He thinks he is so funny.

After eight days with these women, I know why they are so skinny and I am so fat. They eat NOTHING. A one egg omelet and half a cup of orange juice or a small muffin and they are "stuffed" for breakfast. They also like it hot in the car and the rooms. Steph wore a blanket so I could be comfortable, though. This is Steph, Jan, and I at the back of Jan's packed minivan. Stephanie is the master packer and everyone even had their own section so it was quick to unload, too. I had a lot of fun with these guys. We laughed and we talked and shared class ideas. I brought home two peach trees from Hugh and Teilani's house. I hope they grow. We love peaches like we love zucchini and just can't get enough of either one.

And here are my babies, minus Rachel, who was at a party. I brought everyone home a BYU shirt, except Ben, who wanted a U of U shirt. Grandma and Grandpa came through with that one. They are happy to be participants in his delinquency. I was so happy to see my babies. I couldn't get enough of their loves and hugs and kisses. I really, really missed them! Larry had the house clean, dishes done, laundry done, and the kids bathed. He is such a star! He did say, "Now I know how you feel when I come home from a really great meeting all spiritually high and you are exhausted from taking care of the house." I am a lucky girl, I know!

I agree with Laura Wilder, "Home is the nicest word there is."

STRESS RELIEF

Because I am so worried about leaving my family for EIGHT DAYS* (BYU Education Week), I decided to sew a new bag to use for this week and my traipsing around campus. I should have sewn it sooner. Something about the sound of the machine humming along just relaxes me.

I still need to close the bottom of the bag, which I will do, once I add the magnetic closure. Also, the inside of the bag is dark brown, the flash bleached it out.

The inspiration for this bag came from Ric-Rac. I made it bigger and added more pockets. I also made the strap longer so that it hangs like a messenger bag.


*Once again obsessively worried. Like how will I handle eight days away? Will I be safe? Will my family be safe? What if Matthew and Joseph miss me too much? What if Ben acts up? Is it too much babysitting for Rachel and Sari? Too much responsibility? Will they starve? Two years ago I went for five days to NYC with my mom and sister and I was SO READY to be home! Five days was long enough! When I signed up for this I was going to be gone from Monday to Saturday - two days driving, four days in Provo. My ride changed their mind last week and now we are going to be gone eight days - Saturday to Saturday - driving both days. I am glad to spend time with my sister and see my folks. But I would rather be with my family on those days. The friends I am going with are like, "Oh, you will LOVE being gone." I am pretty sure that I am such a home body that I will not LOVE it. I am really looking forward to Education Week and I have always wanted to go so I am excited about that. I was going to make my kids a package a day to open while I was gone, with little personalized notes for everyone. Instead it is after eleven, I have to pack and cut Larry's hair and what I am doing? Blogging.

TAGGED

I know enough tags already! But I thought this one was funny! I found it on Elizabeth's blog.

YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car): Kimo Suburban

YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fav hobby/craft, fav weather + “Tour”): The Reading Some Clouds Mostly Sunny in the high 70's Tour

YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fav ice cream flavor, favorite cookie): Triple Chocolate Brownie Fudge Oreo

YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name): T-San (I like that)

YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal): Purple Stuffed, okay, okay I'll play right - Purple Rhodesian Ridgeback

YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born): Hathaway Provo (Or just Provo since I don't have a middle name - that is my maiden name but I think it makes a fabulous middle name)

YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first): SanTi

SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink): The Green Raspberry Lemonade

STRIPPER NAME: (the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy): BlackberryVanillaTwix

WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names): Harding Phillip (or just Phillip since my mom doesn't have a maiden name)

WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter): Bird Baltimore

SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower): Fall Hydrangea

CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”): Peach FlippyFlop

Go ahead, you know you want to and besides, you're tagged!

PUSSING WOUNDS

Turns out when you show up at the Urgent Care with a green pussing wound, swelling, redness, pain, and a fever they run a battery of tests and give you a couple of prescriptions.

Cursed single blade razor!!!

MY PARENTS - a short tribute

This weekend my parents picked up my kiddos from EFY and drove them all the way to our house. They are turning around and going back home tomorrow morning. To do this they had to get up at 2 am and drive ALL day and then repeat tomorrow. My mom had to change around her work schedule, and you should hear my dad's cough. He sounds terrible! So, this was at personal (and financial) sacrifice. Thanks, Mom and Dad. You're the best!

I just can't resist: Here are some of Missy's amazing pictures!

I love this one of the grandkids:

And how cool is this one? I love the special effects she did.

BREAKING DAWN (minor spoilers)

I read it.

The short version - I liked it. It wrapped up the series nicely.


Are you still here? Okay, consider yourself warned. The following is my humble opinion of the Twilight series: (Taking into account, a big deal was made about this being an LDS author AND we bought all the books at Deseret Book, there was a certain expectation.)

First, Breaking Dawn should have come with an age warning. Let's face it: Bella drinks human blood and loves it. It is rather morbid. Bella and Edward do married people (and vampire) stuff. A lot. (I heard Stephenie Meyer wanted it to have an age warning, but I don't know if that is true.) I thought the writing was a little untrue to Bella's sulky, whining character, as she is just so happy in this book. Maybe she grew up? She finally gets the man? She and Edward work a compromise?

Overall view of the four books - I still just can't believe this writing is considered so fabulous. It is very 7th grade level. And very repetitive. I get it, Edward is beautiful, sparkly in the sun, and cold. And the eternal foreplay. Okay, I get it! You want each other!

As a mom, I despise Bella lying to her parents. I don't approve of her having a boy in her room, SLEEPING with her (to me a very intimate act, even if that is all you are doing), tracing her lips, cuddled up with her every night. Just because Bella and Edward don't actually have sex until they are married doesn't mean that they are being virtuous. If my 16 year old girl was having a boy in her room at all, much less sleeping with her, I would flip out! If that was my son, in a girl's room, I would need resesitation. These books are pop-culture and nearly every girl I've met who has read them wants to be Bella. Yay. Not.

Aside from the physical aspects, the emotional nature of their relationship is not a healthy one and it is the last thing I hope for for my kids. It goes against everything they were taught in Mutual. They are so co-dependant. They both need therapy for self-esteem issues if they are that hooked on each other.

These books teach that true love in something you have no control over. Bella is constantly drawn to Edward even though he is dangerous. I don't like how they can't live without each other. She mopes around for MONTHS when he leaves and it just bugs me! (I had a boyfriend in high school who tried to kill me and himself when I broke up with him so I am a little sensitive to this.) I especially don't like the idea that you can't control yourself or desires.

Here is a summary of the third book -
Bella:"I want you to have sex with me."
Edward: "No, I can't. I am so strong I will accidentally kill you."
Bella: "PLEASE have sex with me."
Edward" "No, I will kill you. I am so strong."
Bella: "Here, I am taking off my shirt. Now will you?"
Edward: "No. ..."

More of the same. It is like three hundred pages of foreplay.

Also, this is minor, but I just can't get pass the fact that she is a teenage girl, and therefore would be menstrating and would smell like blood. The incident with the paper cut at the end of Twilight sparked this question for me.

That said, it was a fun, fast read. It has an exciting story line. I read Breaking Dawn in two days, the first three books I read in three days. I like the story. I don't usually do vampire and werewolf (sorry, shape-shifters) books and I liked some of her details and the way she had them living in this world. In the second book I liked the idea of Native Americans being protectors of this land and the inhabitants in it. I love the idea of a complex social sub-structure going on around the oblivious. I liked the characters (inspite of their obsessive relationships) and I was really rooting for Jacob but I liked the way Stephenie Meyer wrapped up all the loose ends.

Both of my teens are reading "Breaking Dawn" now - way to crash the EFY high.

Click here to read another review - this one by Entertainment Weekly.

MRS. AMANDA GRIMES WAITE

Today Larry and I got to go to the wedding of our favorite (and only - we loved her so much) babysitter since we moved to Spokane. We LOVE Mandi and we are so happy that she invited us to be part of her special day. She looked beautiful!

Since some of you know her, here are some pictures. When I get back from the reception, I will post some of the decoration pictures. It is so beautiful!

I just can't believe that she is married. She seems so young! She and Rachel used to plan that they would marry certain brothers in our ward and be sisters.

Here are some reception pictures. Mandy has some very talented aunties(and mom and grandma). It was a riot working with them today to help get everything ready.

This sign was at the entrance to the backyard.

The guestbook table and flowers. I love hydrangeas. I cleaned up Mikie and Kay's mess as they made these beautiful arrangements.

The wedding cake. So pretty. No, it's not on the ground, they surrounded it with grass. It totally worked.

The bread and cracker basket. I did that. Not the bows, but I helped one of Marcie's sisters fill it. She told me where to put stuff and I did it. I get an "A" for following instructions!

I love this idea of a veggie basket. It is just a basket, lined with kale and stuffed with veggies. Mark it down, ladies, this is a great idea!

They took the chocolate dipped strawberries (I did that too, more directions that I can follow) and then stuck them on skewers and then put them in the grass that they grew just for this occassion. They looked a lot cuter before they started just shoving them in.

I thought this was a cute idea! They had a make your own candy bag bar. I love the tags Marcie made, too.

Here's one people shot. James Larson, Austin Stoker, Blake Grimes (brother of the bride), and Brady Jones.

The reception line was under the gazebo. It was lovely.

This is what the centerpieces looked like. Also, there were candles all around.

Chris (Dad) and Mandi dance to the song Chris used to dance Mandi to when she was a baby. It was very touching and Hye Sean was just in tears about the whole thing. She didn't know about this tradition and she said, "It is so beautiful, I feel like I am watching a movie."

The rain held off until 8:30 then the wind started to blow and in 15 minutes the whole thing was taken down like it never existed.

UTAH (and you thought the Old Testament was really long)

First thing last Saturday morning, we went to Wild Waters with my Mom and Dad's ward in West Jordan. It was a lot of fun! Larry and Ben slept in and didn't join us. (Larry had pulled an all-nighter before we left to finish work so I let him sleep in.)

Matthew started out on the kiddie slides, with Emily, but it wasn't long before he hit the big slopes.

Remember how he wouldn't put his face in the water for swimming lessons? That problem was solved this week. I think he will sail right through his lessons next time. Matthew and uncle Jon try out the slides. Matthew liked going down with him the best and didn't give him much of a break.

Grandma (rather, my mom) watching the kiddos on the slides. Seems being a Grandma suits her just fine!

Sari and Joseph took a ride down together.

Why do down face first? Somehow Daniel ended up backwards almost every time!

The slides are not the scariest things in the world, which gave Rachel plenty of time for posing. Unfortunately, the pictures of her posing wouldn't load, so you get this.

That night we all gathered together in Tooele at the Benson Grist Mill for Missy to take our Family Pictures. She was so patient with my extremely strange family.

I just have to brag, look what a great job Missy did with all these people. Except for my fat butt, this is a beautiful photo!

Front row - Sari, Joseph, Matthew, Daniel (mine),Taylor (Jon), Heidyn and Logan (Teilani), Aubrae (Jason)
Middle next to barrel- Mom, Anna, Nate, Emily, Adam (all Jon), Destry (Teilani), Teilani, Trina and Zya (both Jason)
Back row- Ben, Rachel, Larry, my butt, Me (Tifani), Dad, Jon, the wife (Rabbi Snookie), Rabbi Snookie, Hugh (Teilani), and Jason

Sunday, after church, we just hung out at the Grandparents' house. One thing that Sari and Destry always do is a Rocker Sisters Concert! WooHoo! They do a little dance and singing concert for us.

Daniel is their sound man.

Joseph clapping along. Everyone loves a good concert!

Hugh and Teilani enjoying the show.

Grandpa (my dad) taking pictures of the show. We ended up with roughly 7000 pictures of this concert.

Afterwards, Uncle Jon got his arm signed by the stars.

Nate, Joseph, and Matthew. Joseph said, "I didn't know I had a best friend cousin named Nate!"

There is just something about a rusty old trampoline, a fence to jump off of, and a bunch of cousins that add up to make a perfect afternoon!

We went to Pineview Reservoir on Monday for a week of roughing it camping - port-a-potties only (yuck). We had a great time with all of my family in town.
First of all, a paparazzi shot of the teen girls - a little personal grooming whilst camping. hehe

Taylor accidentally shows off that he was a victim of Sari and Destry's nail salon night.

Great-Grandpa Harding came up one day and brought us corn on the cob! Yummy!

Matthew and Emily practice their casting.

One night we made monkey balls in the dutch oven. SOOOOO good!

At night we played cards - here is Larry with the little kids playing Uno.

We also played "Nerts" until very late one night - after that we were too tired, or dinner was too late to play again.

Joseph learning the delicate art of marshmallow roasting.

Daniel chugging some water, we were not used to the heat and the altitude!

It's all fun and games until someone throws a golf ball at your face. Here is my dad, with the grandkids, playing the tossing the golf ball game. The kids loved it!

All tuckered out. Teilani, Hugh, and Destry. I think this was the ONLY time Teilani wasn't moving, doing something. She never stops.

Yummy dutch oven dinners - every night! Thanks mom and dad!

Yep, we all lined up like the hungry, starving kids we are.

One night we also played tattoo parlor (thanks to Teilani). This is my sister in law Anna picking out the perfect tattoo for herself, while Sari and Matthew watch.

My brother Jason, in addition to showing up in a bright orange SPEEDO (with gold chain about the neck) got a tramp stamp, or trailer track. He hates both of those terms, but I don't mean them in an offensive way at all. Plus, the purple kitty in the middle was really cute.

Matthew shows off his tat.

Even Grandpa (my dad) could be persuaded to get matching tats on his feet - Sari and Destry were so pleased!

Something that has become a tradition is for the girls to get matching pajamas for camp. Here are the teens with theirs. Destry and Sari also matched and I think Emily and Zya did, too.

One night the kids played something like volleyball with the beachballs. This side named themselves the Pineview Pirates and they loved to do their cheer. (Nate, Destry, Emily, and Joseph)

Nate and Joseph - Joseph lost one tooth eating corn on the cob. The next one would soon follow and he would lose his snaggle tooth look.

Matthew hanging out around our camp.

Zya was very shy. I think she could tell that I wanted to attack her and she steered clear of me. But she loves boys. She loved on Matthew every time he let her. She is so cute!

Destry and Sari chillin' at camp - next to the extra gas cans. Safe AND fun!

She might be 16 but she's not too old to play in the sand at the beach.

And Sari is always up for a little treasure hunt.

It's a little known fact that Rabbi Snookie also loves to play in the sand and smash rocks. The proof is in the picture: Snookie, Emily, and Matthew on the beach.

Larry fishing with Nate, Daniel, and Joseph. They caught bupkiss.

Grandma (my mom) sitting in the sand playing with the rocks with Matthew.

Another shot of Aubrae, Rachel, and Heidyn. These girls are good friends and cousins.

We tortured the girls by taking lots of pictures of them. Rachel and Aubrae were submissive, but Heidyn had had it! To get this smile, Teilani just had to say one name - Braemon.

The boat pulling Joseph and Nathan on the tube.

The beach bums... Teilani, Jon, Trina, Zya, Snookie's wife, Jason, and Snookie.

I got to play with Jason and Trina's Canon camera. As my camera slides further off the roof, I am looking for another one. I love the fun features on the Canon, but I am partial to the Sony lenses.

Daniel is just so cute, I want to squeeze him. Now that he is ten, he is getting a lot less tolerant of that.

Nate and Joseph on the tube!

Rachel waterskiing.

Sari, Destry, and Adam on the tube.

No wonder Ben doesn't have a front tooth! If he hadn't knocked it out years ago, something like this would have done it in!

Ben on the kneeboard.

Ben on the wakeboard. He was a fish this whole week. We could barely get him out of the water to eat.

Ben and Heidyn on the tube.

Heidyn on the tube and Ben sliding off ...

Some of the teenagers - Ben (unsafe!!! Where is his life jacket?!) Rachel, Aubrae, Heidyn, and Heidyn's cousin, Braydon.

Already time to go? Sad! Leaving the campsite - one cartop carrier down, one to go.

What we did Friday - as told by Joseph's shirt: (click on it to make it bigger)

More details of Heber City Park and the Heber Creeper:
Ben took care of Joseph's last tooth.

Toothless at seven!

Matthew at the Heber City Park.

Lined up for the egg toss - Ben and Matthew were partners.

Rachel and Heather were partners.

Ben teamed up with Matthew again for the water balloon toss.

The Heber City park is so pretty. Whenever I am with the Hancocks, I can't help but notice all those hugh noggins and I just feel sorry for tiny little Barbara who gave birth to all those big heads. This is something that passed onto Larry and our kids, as well.

Sari at the water balloon toss.

AND Heber himself - that's right! By strange coincidence Heber was not in Reno, but IN Heber, his hometown (which we found out was actually Charleston, but he is not a Charles or a Charlie, so his nickname Heber still sticks!) Ben was so excited to see him, he actually RAN with a big grin on his face, calling out, "Heber!". Rachel and Sari did the same thing. We miss the Heber Utah family!

After the park games we went on the Heber Creeper Hoedown ride. It was the first time anyone in our family has gone on that famous train. Our tickets included dinner:

Our family on the train!

Rachel accidentally smashed a bug with her finger and she told me all about it while I snapped pictures of her many expressions.

Wow that train was going so fast, you could barely hang on! You MUST go over to Missy's blog so you can see the picture of Moe's pole dance. Moe is Larry's cousin's husband and he is hilarious! His pole dance was great (I've seen two - the other one was my sister on a subway in New York). What is hilarious to watch a bald man do gets mildly disturbing when the young girls start copying.

In the middle of the ride, they stopped to teach everyone how to square dance. Rachel, Ben, Sari, and Daniel participated for awhile.

Then they all played on the railroad track.

I had to put in this picture of Jodi because I adore her and this picture shows her silly side. She reminds me SO MUCH of one of mission companions, Tonia (who is the only person Larry is allowed to marry, should I die). They have the exact same hands, eyes, and laugh. I instantly loved Jodi because of who she reminded me of. Sort of like, stalking.

This is the Larry Hancock family. Aren't they beautiful?!

Saturday morning Jason and Aubrae met Larry, me, Rachel, and Sari at the Jordan River Temple and Sari did baptisms for the dead for her first time. It was really special that she got to do that with Jason and Aubrae. Larry got to confirm her and Rachel and baptize them. Jason did the same for Aubrae and that was just too cool.

On Saturday we went to Ryan Hancock's house for Swimming. As soon as our kids saw Uncle Howard (Larry's brother) they were in the pool and attacking him!

Dave Sant throwing a frisbee for Jeffrey and Daniel to catch. Daniel caught it this time.

Dave doing flips into the pool - we were all impressed - and wet - he really knows how to splash!

Sari (and Daniel) and Sushi Saturday night Snookie and his wife brought over some sushi for Miss Sari. Sari has wanted to try sushi for some time now but since Larry and I know nothing about it, we deferred to those who do - specifically my brother and his wife. They brought her a large selection of various things - and to everyone's surprise she loved them all!

Something about the texture made me want to puke.

Daniel tried it and liked it, too.

On Sunday afternoon we visited our good friends, the Christiansens. They were law school students in Spokane a few years ago and Greg was our home teacher and Shayla, my visiting teacher. We ADORE them and seeing them once a year is just not enough. Shayla has many good qualities, keeping in touch is not one of them.

On our way home, Monday morning we stopped to visit my Grandma Powell. She is just wonderful and my kids all have great memories of her delicious food and her beautiful garden. We miss her, too!

After visiting Grandma we dropped Rachel and Ben at EFY in Rexburg. Text messaging reports are that both kids are having a great time and that Ben has the same counselor he had last year. Rachel is rooming with her best friend (when she was a toddler) Brooke. They haven't seen each other in years but have a lot in common and I think they will get along great!

Because I know you care and some of you will wonder - there was no bloodshed or injuries (other than moderate concussions sustained by Ben and Teilani from tubing with Jon driving the boat) except for my legs when I used the razor my mom gave me. It looked like this:

Trust me when I say with non-pivoting heads and the single blade, by the time I was done shaving my legs they were hamburger. Perhaps it would have been better to go hairy ...

Something strange: we stopped in Dillon on our way home on Monday and I recognized a lady in McDonalds. We started talking and I was her RA her freshman year at Ricks! Julie Palmer McCloud is married and has seven children now. They were moving from Bonner's Ferry to Shelley, Idaho and stopped in Dillon, at McDonalds at the same time we did. Weird, isn't it?